


Jealousy isn't a good color on you

by hkandi



Category: Naruto
Genre: Developing Relationship, Gen, Happy Ending, Jealousy, M/M, Mixed Messages, This is why communication is important, Tumblr request
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 07:20:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26469322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hkandi/pseuds/hkandi
Summary: After dancing around each other for some time, both Kakashi and Iruka want to make a move, but it doesn't go as planned, initially."Were you jealous, sensei?" Kakashi asked, and Iruka blushed furiously.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Umino Iruka, Hatake Kakashi & Yamato | Tenzou, Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Comments: 8
Kudos: 149





	Jealousy isn't a good color on you

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an anonymous tumblr ask, of jealousy and Kakashi/Iruka. 
> 
> Requests are always welcomed!
> 
> Also, not written for Kakashi's birthday, but I completed in time that I decided to post it on his birthday. So, happy birthday, Kakashi!

(I don't own any characters etc etc)

Kakashi and Iruka have been dancing around each other for a few weeks, now. Or is it months?

Neither is sure. 

Neither could really pinpoint when it started.

Perhaps it was that one night when Iruka and Naruto were headed to get dinner and bumped into Kakashi, and the blond invited him to join them? Naruto had, as usual, been so focused on his food that it was up to the adults (read, Iruka) to talk so that they didn't all sit in silence.

Sure, they had been to dinners like that before, but usually either other people were with them, or Naruto actually talked rather than shove food into his face.

Or maybe it was that time that Kakashi had passed Iruka a report that he wrote as a poem, to cover that it was late and only half-complete.

Iruka had not ignored either of those facts, but had been impressed by the poem, and so only sternly warned him to not repeat it.

Either way, they had begun to talk more when they saw each other, and even ran into each other at Ichiraku's here and there, sitting together to eat.

A few playful teases here, a few wishful looks there, and they had begun to realize there could be more than they thought.

Still, a formal first date was needed, and both were individually considering when and how to ask the other out.

Iruka had decided to take the leap himself and ask out the copy nin the next time he saw him.

However, the next time he saw him, Iruka was...well, unprepared.

Kakashi was in his line at the missions desk. That was nothing new, the man always stood in his line. And sure, he was talking to another shinobi, in line together, you might say.

That was also nothing new.

But there seemed to be something...familiar...between the two men. A level of comfortability that spoke volumes, even standing three people away from Iruka's desk.

Kakashi, talking to Yamato, could feel a change in the air. 

Not killing intent, no, that was all too familiar to Kakashi. This was...different.

His mind raced as Yamato continued to talk. The man was still in ANBU, and so not many knew him, but Tsunade wanted him to show his face here and there so that his presence in the village wouldn't raise too much suspicion if/when he left ANBU, even if it was temporary.

They moved up in line and the feeling grew, slightly, but still present...

Kakashi mentally shrugged and turned his attention back to Yamato, excited that there was just two shinobi ahead of them before he could see Iruka.

After all, that was why Yamato was with him, to meet Iruka, in a matter of speaking.

Kakashi had told his kohai about the younger man, of their interactions, their meetings, Iruka's pleasant habits, and of his growing interest in the other man.

He wanted to make a move, but was unsure exactly how, and so, thought that if he brought a friend to see him, Yamato might be able to offer some support.

They were soon in front of Iruka, but it was not Kakashi's Iruka.

Not that Kakashi was possessive.

But this Iruka, well, he wasn't himself. The smile didn't reach his eyes and his face seemed slightly drawn. 

And the change in the air felt stronger now, slightly tense.

Kakashi cleared his throat.

"Evening, sensei," he greeted Iruka, giving him a closed eye smile. Yamato, next to him, gave a small smile.

Iruka's tense, small smile remained on his face, and he bowed his head slightly.

"Good evening, how may I be of service?"

Kakashi pulled out a scroll and passed it over. "Courtesy of Team 7," he informed the teacher.

Seeing how tonight was a reconnaissance, in a sense, he couldn't risk giving Iruka one of his own late reports, and felt that a recent one from his team was the safest option.

He and Yamato studied the younger man as he reviewed it, nodding as he read, before reaching to stamp the scroll.

Iruka looked up and a genuine, but still small, smile flashed across his face.

"Another great scroll from your team, Kakashi-sensei. Sakura always excelled at reports," Iruka commented.

Kakashi shrugged. "She had a good teacher, didn't she?"

Iruka felt his face heat slightly at the compliment.

Kakashi felt the air grow...calmer?

"Anything else I can do for either of you?" Iruka asked, looking between the men, his gaze lingering slightly longer on Yamato.

Kakashi narrowed his eye slightly at this turn of events.

He and Yamato declined, and Iruka thanked them for their service, before they left.

They waited until they were out of Hokage Tower and somewhere more secluded before talking.

"So, that was him?" Yamato asked, and Kakashi nodded.

"Maa, he was different tonight, though."

"Different how?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I don't know. Tense. Curt. Not playful or friendly like usual."

Yamato hummed as he thought about it. "It's the evening, perhaps he had a long day. Didn't you say he works as the academy and then does shifts here? That's a lot in one day."

"That's true," Kakashi agreed. "But still..."

They went to dinner and discussed it further, with Yamato encouraging Kakashi to pursue asking the teacher out and to not read into that night too much.

Still, Kakashi being Kakashi, that's exactly what he did once they parted ways and he sat on a bench to read.

He thought about Iruka's body language, verbal language, the change in the air....

The change in the air....could it be...?

_____

Iruka, still at the missions desk, found himself doing exactly the same as Kakashi once the room had slowed down to a trickle of shinobi.

When his line was empty, he filed, sorted, and reviewed his work, but he was too efficient and now had two hours left in his shift and nothing to do.

He pulled out schoolwork to try to grade, but his thoughts kept returning to seeing Kakashi earlier.

Not just Kakashi, he reminded himself. Kakashi and...well, Iruka didn't know who the other shinobi was. Just that Kakashi seemed to know him quite well, seemed comfortable around the man, and that the other man was easy on the eyes.

Iruka sighed.

Kakashi was not his, and Iruka was not possessive.

Right?

Sure, the other man had never said, hinted, that he was involved with anyone....had Iruka jumped to conclusions? Read into their own interactions? The times they bumped knees, held eye contact a little too long?

The times they had spent together never seemed as intimate as that of Kakashi and his friend, and that was just in standing in line together!

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the two other desk workers calling out that they were heading to file, and Iruka thanked them as they took his scrolls.

"Great," he sighed, looking around. "Just me, and an empty office, and my thoughts. Maybe we'll get a flock of shinobi in and they'll keep me busy til I leave."

He was soon pulled out of this pity party by the door to the room opening.

Iruka sat up straighter, glad for the distraction, only to see a familiar head of unruly silver hair enter.

"Yo."

"Good evening, Kakashi-sensei," he sighed, watching the man approach his desk.

Alone, Iruka noted.

Not that he was possessive.

"Maa, it's just us, no need to be so formal, sensei," Kakashi said, leaning a hip on his desk.

Iruka shook his head. "I think that was a contrary sentence," he commented. "Is there something you need?"

Kakashi studied him in silence for a moment.

"I need an answer," he finally said. "Well, perhaps two answers."

Iruka raised an eyebrow as he looked at him. "Regarding?"

"Well," Kakashi said, studying a gloved hand as he talked. "If you recall, I came in earlier this evening to turn in a report."

Iruka nodded, and Kakashi continued.

"It seemed fairly straightforward, but something felt different."

"I'm not sure I follow," Iruka said.

"Something felt..." Kakashi said, looking lazily around the room. "Off. Different. The air, the atmosphere, the whatever." His gaze returned to Iruka. "Did you feel it, sensei?"

Iruka swallowed thickly, a movement not missed by Kakashi. "I don't know what you mean, Kakashi-sensei."

"When I was in here with the other jonin," Kakashi reminded him. "It felt...tense. And it seemed to grow as he and I talked to you."

Iruka pursed his lips slightly. "I don't know what you're getting at."

Iruka's mind raced. He's not possessive, or jealous, he reminded himself. Right?

They looked at each other in silence for a moment before Kakashi spoke.

"Were you jealous, sensei?" Kakashi asked, and Iruka blushed furiously. "Because I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but the change in the air, almost in the chakra, dare I say, felt like jealousy."

"Perhaps, perhaps you're mistaken," Iruka squeaked out, before he cleared his throat and sat straighter in his chair. "Why would I be jealous?"

And why, Iruka thought to himself, couldn't he stop blushing?

"Maa, that what I wondered too," Kakashi drawled. "It wouldn't be because I was in line with that person, would it?"

Iruka cleared his throat again and shuffled the papers in front of him. "You are welcome to be in line with whomever you wish."

"And yet, when I've been in line with, say, Gai, there wasn't that response. Or with Kurenai. Or my team."

Iruka shrugged but remained silent.

"Yet when I was in line with my friend..." Kakashi mused, "you seemed jealous."

"Perhaps you're mistaken," Iruka repeated, still looking at the papers on his desk.

"I don't think I am," Kakashi said. "In fact, I'm flattered."

Iruka reactively looked up at him. "What?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I'm flattered you were jealous that I was with him. Maa, I only hope you were jealous of him and not me. Wait, does that make sense?" he asked, scratching the back of his head. "Jealous that he was with me." He shrugged again. "What I'm saying is, if it's because I was with someone and it brought out that feeling, I think it's cute. And when you studied him I felt jealous that he had your attention..."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Iruka said, his face growing warmer. "You can be with whoever you want. Him, me, whoever."

Iruka's eyes widened, as he realized what and how he had said.

Kakashi gave him a closed eye smile.

"You don't have to be jealous, sensei. I'm not with him. So, that's one answer. That brings me to seeking my second answer."

Iruka closed his eyes and sighed. "What's that?" he groaned.

"Would you like to have dinner with me this week?"

"What?" Iruka asked, opening his eyes. 

"Would you go out with me, this week?" Kakashi clarified.

"So...you're definitely single?" Iruka asked, and Kakashi nodded.

"Though, not for long, hopefully," Kakashi drawled.

Iruka smiled, the smile Kakashi had missed all day. "In that case, I'd love to."

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback and suggestions welcomed!
> 
> Let's connect, I'm on [tumblr](https://hkandiu.tumblr.com/)


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